The developments of sculpture are closely associated with the emergence of human society. A sculpture is the history of human identity recording the thoughts, culture, and aesthetic concept of the people at that age, and also reflects the worship of one generation to another. The Marble Statue of a Youthful Hercules, a Roman marble sculpture from A. D. 69 to 98, Flavian dynasty, depicts the Greek Mythology hero: Hercules . In contrast, Commemorative Portrait of a Chief (Lefem), an African wood sculpture from 19th to early 20th century, is an portrayal of one of the rulers of Bangwa chiefdoms .
Both sculptures contain concepts of the power and strength using the idealized male figure and reflect the physical perfection of the beauty of the ideal body, while the differ in terms of style, posture and technique, and represent different cultures, traditions and religions belief. The use of techniques on similar carving material to create the different emphasizes on two sculptures, in order to reveal the diversity of the culture value, ritual function and tradition.
The Hercules sculpture is made from marble and the lefem is made from wood. Although both sculptures are used the basic carving methods to create stylized figurative forms, Hercules records more advanced carving skill and technique to show the representative body features. The extraordinary massed ringlets of Hercules’s hair and the lion pelt have an elaborate corkscrew hairstyle that required more skillful chiseling and the innovative technique of drilling, which rapidly renders holes into the sculptural material .
From a far distance, the hair in combination with the smooth musculature, the deep folds in the lion pelt, and the Cantrapposto (off-balanced) pose create a contrast of light and shadow over the figure’s surface, emphasizing the real texture of hair and skin closely, making the figure lifelike. From this overall effect, the Flavian artist not only followed the tradition of the classical period, but also adopted the concept of veristic portraiture from the Claudia period . The Hercules sculpture decorated in Roman’s public bath .
Because the Flavian emperors family is symbol of the mighty empire and had powerful military strengths, the sculpture connects to the mythological figure shows people’s loyalties to the emperors and held in great reverence for emperor’s important political position and strength. Hercules is the son of Zeus and a greatest hero in Greek mythology, which he completed twelve impassable labors and brought the salvation for mankind. Roman sculptors considered Hercules is the incarnation of the strength, courage and intelligence (for the emperors).
Hercules’ half god and half human is close to the ordinary people identity shape a friendly imagine for the ruler, who upholds the equal social position of the ordinary people. This can help the rulers maintain his strong political position. Similar to the Hercules sculpture used to honor the powerful ruler, the Lefem is the nude male figurative portrait of the chief, or one of the royal families of the Fon’s legacy, and is created to commemorate ancestors. It was displayed in the palace courtyard, but placed along with other commemorative portraits of rulers from previous generations .
It not only functioned as a ceremonial object when it was presented publicly after the chief’s death to honor the significant ancestral spirit , but its memorial use also served as a visual reminder of the dynastical leadership, maintaining the social and political continuity in African culture . The use of skillfully cutting and chipped to create the mass conical shapes of his cap, the deep concave month and the exaggerated bulging eyes showing that the African sculptor pays more attention to the details on the figure’s head.
At the same time, his head is appears to be proportionately larger than the body, suggesting that the chief is a spiritual leader who connects the between supernatural and human world . Because Africans believed the head play and special role in one’s destiny, they were put more details and exaggerations on their ruler’s head. This emphasize ruler’s head is more important for the king continuing to lead the African society to success in the afterlife . Africans believe that “Without the creative powers of the gods there could be no ancestors; and without the ancestors there would be no present day. So, the figure usually kneels down in African region’s art. Although both sculptures portray the idealized male naked figure, the different scale and proportion suggest the beauty of the human body in different styles. In the Marble Statue of a Youthful Hercules, the over-life-sized scale shows an idealized body size of a godlike hero, whereas the scale of the Lefem is smaller than life size in representing a mortal figure. Hercules’s body is about the seven heads tall, the perfect proportion of ideal human form that developed by Greek sculptors in the fourth century BCE .
Unlike the Hercules the head of which is proportional to the rest of his body, the Lefem has a larger scaled head and making the Lefem looks abstractive and gives the sense of motion. Even though the Lefem doesn’t approach the same ideal human form as Youthful Hercules, his bent arms and open legs make the figure symmetrically balanced. Since the Lefem’s body lacks the balanced contrast of tense and relaxed musculature, the figure appears less lively and stands in an unnatural way.
However, Hercules’ left hip is slightly raised outward to the right, and his right leg is reached out to form a gentle S-shape curve, creating the distinctive stance of an off-balanced position, the classical Greece contrapposto pose. This harmonious proportion of the body gives Hercules a naturalistic sense of motion. Though this naturalism “reflected every wrinkle and imperfection of the skin” and “composed of generic bodies onto which realistic form”, it is used to depict a superhuman godlike person .
The naturalistic beauty of physical human proportion and idealized body size shows the realistic style in Roman sculpture differ from the abstract style of the African sculpture. The different posture of both free standing figurative sculptures reveal the same idea of the individual power and strength. Although the Marble Statue of a Youthful Hercules has individual restorations made during the early seventeenth century , both Youthful Hercules and the Lefem are in excellent condition, and their poses lead the viewers to walk around the sculptures.
In addition to the contrapposto pose of Hercules mentioned above, the skin of the lion in Nemean forest from his bent left forearm as the symbol of his godly prowess and strength . The left hand is extended out with the apples of the Hesperides, the garden of heaven with a tree of golden apples guarded by a giant dragon with a hundred heads, perhaps representing the wealth, honor and goodness or immortality of the Flavian ruler .
Meanwhile, his right arm is bent in order to rest his right hand outward at the waist, holding the downturned wooden club that he cut in the Nemean forests . In Greek mythology, Hercules was required to finish twelve impossible labors for the king in order to cleanse his sin of killing his sons and wife. The scuplture shows that he brought the gold apples of Hesperides back and got tired after completing his twelfth labors. He leaned against the tree stump to rest. Even though he looks tired, the material accoutrements, his uscular body and the over-life-size give him a sense of power.
The used of mythological image to represent the emperor also has such indomitable godlike fighting spirit to overcome any difficulties like Hercules. In the contrast, the Lefem’s arms and legs are bent at straight angles in enthroned position. “In his right hand is a beaded calabash, a container for palm wine; in his left is a long-stemmed pipe for smoking tobacco. Palm wine and tobacco were believed to have life-giving properties whose consumption reinforced the Fon’s (the king’s) power.
The pipe is similar to Hercules’ wooden club represents the power. Additionally, the collar of leopard claws around the Lefem’s neck represent the belief of Africans “that the king may assume the form of a leopard, and accordingly, that the leopard has the ability to take on human form. ” This not only symbolized characteristics of ruler’s strength, speed and power, but also revealed the survival skills of the king’s mystery of the environment. The large scale cap represents the prestige and the privilege of the position of the Bangwa ruler .
The half kneeling posture is “dynamic stance” and “strong posture” of the lefem and “emphasizes his chiefly authority and identity. ” Also, the posture also represent how the chief has lowered himself to adore his god and is thankful for the power and strength of the god, whereas the diligent stance and naturalistic posture of Hercules is a representative of a Roman emperor who wants to connect himself to the godlike fighting spirit and identity of a mythological hero.
Although, they both have completely different style and form, their different postures with material accoutrements are reflected power and strength of a ruler. From different approaches to scale, proportion and the emphasis of body features, one can notice each sculpture has a unique aesthetic human form and style, representing their special functions and cultural values.